Patent of Invention U.S. Pat. No. 6,276,912 relates to a “Climbing shuttering system for successive concreting of high vertical walls”, which basically consists of a horizontal support structure from which a plurality of vertical beams are appended with shuttering panels for concreting connected thereto in parallel. The beams rest on a horizontal platform that moves vertically due to the action of a hydraulic cylinder, in such a way that once the walls at one height have been cast the platform is raised, thereby also raising the vertical beams and the shuttering panels to cast the walls at another height. To fix the position of the platform at a particular height the system uses articulated pawls that rest on notches that must be made in the concreted walls or pillars, which must get higher as the shuttering progresses. The platforms are raised from one section of shuttering to the next in one operation, i.e. by means of a single stroke of the cylinder.
Patent of Invention U.S. Pat. No. 4,147,483 also discloses “Climbing shuttering for casting concrete structures such as dams or retaining walls”, which has a structure attached to a shuttering panel that climbs up the already concreted wall driven by the action of a hydraulic cylinder, the base whereof is attached to a triangular structure, which, due to the action of an actuator, can be separated from the wall to then ascend until it is anchored to anchoring points situated at a higher level. This means that the wall must have a means of anchoring to enable the anchoring and forward movement of the triangular structure along the wall.
British Patent no. 2021672 relates to climbing shuttering that requires uprights or support profiles that are fixed to the ground, which must present the total height to be shuttered, with sliding heads mounted thereon whereto a support or bracket arrangement is fixed with the shuttering elements attached thereto, in such a way that the heads, and therefore also the shuttering elements, can be displaced vertically in relation to the support profiles fixed to the ground.
Specifically, the system uses an upper head and a lower head that have pulleys that slide on the upright and a pivoted latch arm that can rest and press on flanges or blocks provided at fixed intervals along the surface of the upright. The system also incorporates an intermediate head that is joined to the upper head by means of a hydraulic cylinder, which raises the upper head as it extends and with it raises the whole shuttering structure, while the system uses the intermediate head to rest on the blocks or flanges on the upright.
In this system, the bracket arrangement rises in relation to the upright but the upright remains fixed to the ground.
Patent of Invention EP0373617 relates to a “Displaceable platform movable sectionwise on a wall”, which has a means of anchoring to the wall and carrier rails separated from the wall on which the bracket arrangement moves, serving as a base for a platform on which the shuttering rests. The system incorporates a drive mechanism to determine, on the one hand, the vertical movement of the carrier rails, and on the other hand, to raise the platform and therefore also the shuttering in relation to the carrier rails, all of which uses the wall as a base without resting on the ground.
Specifically, the device includes two slide shoes, attached to one another by a double-acting hydraulic cylinder. The shoes can slide in relation to the carrier rails, having for this purpose bent pivoted levers that have transversal spigots at the ends, which are housed in a toothed displacement rack on the carrier rail and which work their way stepwise up the toothed displacement rack due to the action of the hydraulic cylinder. In this system, the upright and the bracket arrangement are raised alternately but the mechanisms that enable this are very complex.
European Patent no. 0681635 relates to a self-climbing device also comprising an upright that can ascend vertically in relation to the wall to be cast and a bracket arrangement that supports the shuttering elements, which can, in turn, slide in relation to the upright.
The bracket arrangement is attached to the upright by means of two heads, an upper and a lower head, which are joined to each other by a hydraulic cylinder. Each head includes a rotating rocker or locking element that either rests against the flanges provided in the upright to raise the bracket arrangement or pushes the upright upwards by means of said flanges.
For the rocker to work in the different phases involved in raising the shuttering, each of the heads includes a rotating control member that is mounted on the same axis as the rocker and control cams provided along the length of the upright, alternating with the flanges thereof, to act on the control member.
In this manner, the control cams act on the control member engaging it with the locking member or rocker, in such a way that in one direction of movement, the control cam makes the locking member rotate so that it comes into contact with one of the flanges on the upright, whilst in the other direction it allows a certain tilting motion of the rocker to pass the flanges on the upright, without having to apply any force.
The control cams have two active faces, depending on whether the heads are moving up or down and, consequently, the control members of the heads also have two active arms that act in each direction of movement.
Of course, there are means of locking the control members and the locking members of each head in order to allow the necessary movement of the rocker in each of the upward phases involved in raising the shuttering.